Kathmandu, Feb. 19:
Melamchi Water Supply
Development Board (MWSDB) is preparing for the retendering of the remaining
works at the project including the headwork construction and flooring and
finishing of the tunnels.
It is preparing tender
documents and other required notices. “The preparation will be complete in a couple of weeks
and a new tender will be announced to procure the new contractor,” said
Rajendra Prasad Pant, Senior Divisional Engineer at the Board.
According to him, the project has recommended the ministry to adopt the
fast track procurement process in order to complete the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) funded national pride project at the earliest.
Headwork construction,
tunnel finishing, fitting the ventilation shaft, hydromechanical gates and
monitoring equipment are yet to be executed.
According to the board,
it will take about nine-month to construct the headwork.
The project is now
waiting for the new directives and guidelines from the Ministry of Water Supply
(MoWS).
The much awaited
project is in doldrums after the Italian contractor Co-operative Muratori e
Cementisti (CMC) di Ravenna abandoned the project in December last year. The
contractor has not shown any interest or returning to the site despite multiple
efforts from the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) and the MoWS.
The MWSDB –
implementing agency of the water transmission part of the project – had
terminated the contract with the CMC after the latter failed to respond to the
board’s communication efforts.
MWSP has achieved about
90 per cent progress after 16 years of its implementation. The project is
delayed by a decade.
Published in The Rising Nepal Daily on 20 February 2019.
No comments:
Post a Comment